" Undine Charms and Elfs' Round Dance  "

 

Composed in 1842, the Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in A major Op.6 , is a tonepainting and programmatically oriented work that is strongly connected to the worlds of Norse Fairy tales and legends.

Composer Niels Gade had an expert understanding of Schumann's and Mendelssohn's works and the story of the beautiful " mermaid ", it seems , was a source of inspiration for him as well - a mermaid, half fish, half women who casts a spell on a proud knight with her ambivalent allure.

Cheerful and lively, the first movement evokes different images - the play of the waves, which lead
to caresses, or separate lovers again, golden-scaled fish darting about in the currents.

The subsequent second movement in F-major is reminiscent of a romance or a declaration of love.

Again, we hear Gade's tone painting with thirty-second notes from the violin, which could be representations of shimmering reflections of light on the water.

In the finale, then, is not about a happy love  affair in A major key, but about renunciation in A minor.

The relationship between a water sprite and a human has no future.
The knight tries in vain to ward off the loss of his love, he cannot prevent the beautiful mermaid from gliding back into her watery home.

 

For more details please refer to the SACD - Booklet.

                                                                                                                       Thomas Albertus Irnberger
                                                                                                                                                                 Translated by Matthias Goldmann